FOLLOWING UP

By Joseph P. Fried

Published: September 8, 2002

They were the grandes dames of the old borscht belt, until newer generations of vacationers spurned them and their less prominent like for trendier destinations.

The Hamptons and the Caribbean and Europe were in. The Concord and Grossinger's and the other resorts of the Jewish Catskills were increasingly passé, and by the late 1970's most of them had as much of a future as the fallen leaves on their grounds.

Grossinger's, with 600 rooms in Liberty, N.Y., closed in 1986. The 1,200-room Concord, in Kiamesha Lake, held on until 1998.

A Westchester developer, Louis R. Cappelli, above, envisioned more for the sprawling sites than nostalgic memories of sumptuous artery-clogging meals and entertainment by Danny Kaye, Milton Berle and Eddie Fisher. In 1999, he and associates bought the two old resorts at bankruptcy auctions, and he has been planning new ventures that would appeal to a modern, multiethnic generation of vacationers and conventiongoers.

Like traffic to the Catskills in the days before superhighways, things have been moving more slowly than Mr. Cappelli had hoped, leading skeptics to cite failed revival efforts in the economically battered region, and local government officials to hope he overcomes the hurdles.

An early financing proposal for the first phase of the $500 million redevelopment at the Concord fell through. The $180 million needed for that phase is still not in hand, Mr. Cappelli said last week.

''But we have two large pension funds and insurance companies right now looking at a proposal'' to provide the $180 million, he added, ''and we should hear back in the next two weeks.''

The first Concord phase would include the construction of 525 rooms in the two sections of the hotel where the steel and concrete framework is being retained. Later phases, Mr. Cappelli said, include 1,000 rooms and a convention center in newly built structures.

At Grossinger's, he said, the plan, in the design stage, is for a spa and golf resort.

He attributed the financing delays to the effect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on travel and the hotel industry. Still, he said, many people prefer to vacation closer to home these days and that should help his projects' prospects.

A Show of Confidence In a Time of Uncertainty

The promise of a rejuvenating new home has been snatched away. On Friday, its director is to depart, and no successor has been hired. Yet optimism is on display at the Museum of the City of New York.

In March, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg rescinded an offer that the museum move from its outmoded quarters at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, above, to the historic and elegant Tweed Courthouse, behind City Hall.

Mr. Bloomberg decided to use the expensively renovated courthouse as the school system's new headquarters. The museum's longtime director, Robert R. Macdonald, resigned soon afterward, effective at the end of this week.

The museum's chairman, Newton P. S. Merrill, said last week that he was not concerned about the absence of a new director. ''I'm optimistic we will have a decision within 60 days'' on a successor, he said.

Of the museum's on-again, off-again merger talks with the New-York Historical Society, he said, ''There are still very general discussions, nothing specific.''

Still, ''with or without'' a merger, he said, ''our focus'' is a new home in Lower Manhattan.